by KJ Dahlen
Your mother loved only one man, your real father. I’m sorry I don’t know who he is but shortly after you were born, your mother begged me to care for you as if you belonged to me. She made a mistake and somehow her family found out where she was. She had to run to stay alive and she knew that was no life for a baby. She didn’t want to leave but she knew she couldn’t stay.
You see, she was supposed to marry a man named Ivan to join his family with hers and together, they would rule the whole East coast of the Siberian area of Russia. She ran away from that marriage and vowed never to go back. Her brothers found out about Nikita and had him killed. She was thrown in prison for not agreeing to their demands but she told me an older man helped her escape. His name was Valerian and she heard he took a beating for assisting her but he told her no matter the cost to himself he had to help her.
I may not have ever been your biological father but like I said, I loved you from the moment you came into this world. I hear from Irena from time to time and she asks about you. It has always been my mission to protect you from her family. I’m so sorry I couldn’t do that. If you are reading this letter, then I have failed to do that.
You are my child, the child of my heart. It is funny how life plays games on a person sometimes. Your mother is out there somewhere, hopefully safe. She came to mean so much to me but like I said, she only ever loved one man and her brother and her father killed that man.
I hope I have prepared you enough to keep you safe from her family. I have written the truth down and hopefully, someone can help that truth get out. The Bratva aren’t all bad but like anything else, you have the good but you also have the bad apples. You have to find a good man to demand justice from them. Justice for all who have ever suffered under the Konovic rule.
The truth must come out. People fear the unknown but they also fear the Konovic name for it is pure evil and that evil must end. I know what I ask is almost impossible but please baby girl, you must try. Bring the honor back to Russia, cleanse the hurt, and shame from your mother’s family name for you too, sadly I regret, are a Konovic.
Remember I would have given you my name if your mom would have given me the right but no matter what, you are the daughter of my heart.
Tears fell down her cheeks as she read her father’s words. For he was her father and no matter what anybody said, he would always be her father.
She opened the journal and began reading his words. They went back to the day she was born.
“The baby came today and my lord, she is beautiful. She has the look of her mother and I pray her temperament. Irena held her baby for a moment and even named her then she handed me the baby and bid me to take her away and hide her from her family. She begged me to guard her well. She begged me to tell the baby how much she loved her.
That was the last time I saw her.
Grace sobbed as she read his words. Then she took the other paper from the envelope and opened it. It was her birth certificate. On the document was her real name- Niki Grace Konovic. It named her mother as Irena Galin Konovic and Nikita Kostavic as her father.
Nikita Kostavic was a name she didn’t know. All she had ever known was Gene Daniels. She crumbled the paper in her hands and hung her head. It was then she realized her whole life had been a lie, just like she’d thought, but only worse.
But he hadn’t lied about one thing, Gene Daniels did love her and she loved him. He had given her an incredible gift. He loved her like a father, he nurtured her and gave her purpose, gave her value. She never even guessed that he was not her real dad. He loved her that much.
She never remembered her mother because she had never been in the picture. He always told her she left when she was little but now she’d learned that she left the day she was born. That was why she never remembered her mother, she had never seen her.
She looked down at the birth certificate and wondered how a mother could leave her child behind? How a mother could just walk away and never come back to find her baby. When she turned the page, a letter fell out. The letter was written in a feminine handwriting, one that Grace didn’t know.
Her heart almost stopped beating for a moment as she stared at her name on the envelope. Her heart filled with hope when she realized this letter could be from her mother.
She broke the seal and eagerly scanned the words written on the paper. Her eyes grew wide as she read what the woman named Irena wrote. She told pretty much the same story as Gene told her all her life but she added more detail. She spoke of her hopes and dreams and told her that her brothers and father would have never let them happen back home. That one day, she hoped to be able to meet her when the time was right and the threat was no more but she felt that might never happen. Irena explained how one night after she escaped the prison, she made a decision to leave her home and travel with Gennedi to the new land. She never regretted her decision and she knew Gennedi would come to love her child and he would put his own life in front of hers and for that, she owed him a blood debt.
Grace quietly folded the letter from her mother and got to her feet. Looking toward the door, she knew the men in the main room needed to see what she had found. She gathered her things and walked to the door. Each step echoed in the hall then she entered the main room.
She walked directly over to the table where Barron and the others sat. She gave Red the letter from her father along with her birth certificate but she hung onto the diary. At least for now.
Red took the letters from her.
She looked at him keeping her eyes on him the whole time. “My real name is Niki Grace Konovic. My mother is Irena Galen Konovic and my father’s name is Nikita Kostavic. A name I don’t know, a man who may not even exist anymore.” She shifted her eyes around the table. “The man I called my father Gene Daniels was a man of honor who chose to love a child that wasn’t his. He raised me as his own and I will forever be blessed that he did just that. I’m not sure what to think of these new developments, but I will never be a Konovic.” She met everyone’s eyes and said, “I hope you find this man Vitya Konovic and I hope you kill him slowly and make him feel pain for a long time before he dies. He’s brought nothing but misery for so long, for so many people. They need justice. They need to be remembered.”
She turned and asked Red, “Did you perhaps have a family member an older man in one of Vitya’s prisons?”
“Da, my father spent time and died in Konovic’s prisons, why?” he asked looking puzzled.
“He helped my mother escape and leave the country. She said he took a beating for her but he said he had to protect her. It was the right thing to do. That to me... is the right kind of honor. Her father and her brother would have sold her into slavery. They proved they had no honor. She would have been a link to someone named Ivan that her family wanted. She didn’t want this to happen, she was in love with Nikita and she was already pregnant with me when they threw her into that fucking prison. She gave birth to me in this country with my Gene beside her then disappeared hoping to keep her family away from me. They had no idea I even existed.” She turned to look at Yuri. “You need to stop this bastard before he does any more damage. He and his father have already done too much.”
“He is part of your family,” Yuri reminded her. “What would you have us do?”
Grace thought about it for a moment then told him, “I think you should have them both in chains watching their empire burn to the ground. Or better yet, let them stand on it when you light the match. That will get them used to the fires of hell.”
Yuri raised an eyebrow and they all watched as she walked down the hall to her room. Turning back to the men at the table, he shook his head. “She may not have been raised as a Konovic but she has their bloodlust.”
“Nyet, she doesn’t.” Barron shook his head. “She just wants justice for her father’s death and for so many others that never got a say in what happened to them. She just found out her whole life was a lie and she wants to set things right.” He looked down the hall to h
is bedroom door. “Can’t say, I blame her for that.”
Yuri nodded though he looked troubled. “I put a call into Sergi today. He’s calling in the Nomads. Since we have a team here already they will be stopping by probably tomorrow to help us find this bastard. He’s already got them searching in Russia for Konovic’s men and the uncle who tried taking over for the old man.”
Barron looked around at his men. Some of them had left Russia because they were wanted men. They committed no crimes here but back in Russia, that might have been a different story. He turned back to Yuri.
Yuri held up his hand to silence his coming question. “The Nomads have one objective here, to find and apprehend Vitya Konovic. Nothing more, nothing less. As long as your men do not panic and do something stupid, they will not be taken into custody. But if they choose to go back and clear their names, we will not stop them.” Shrugging his broad shoulders Yuri told the entire room, “Every man woman and child is born free, but sometimes that very freedom has a price. We have all done things we regret, I know I have. I am not here to judge any of you for your past, but I am here to catch one of our own and catch him I will. Unless your crimes have been against the Bratva, you will be safe from reprisals.”
Barron looked around the room.
His men looked almost relieved at his statements. They all did have pasts, and some still had family alive back in Russia.
Barron gave him a short nod and that assured Yuri there would be no trouble.
Chapter Nine
Barron opened his bedroom door and slipped inside. It was late but he finally got his guests settled for the night and he was tired. The last few days had been hell on him and he knew he might have more to deal with before he could close his eyes tonight.
Barron looked toward the bed but Grace wasn’t there. His gaze swept the room and he found her in the corner again. He walked over to her and squatted down. As soon as he did, he saw the devastation in her eyes. He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear then touched her hands and found they were freezing cold. He began rubbing them, trying to get some heat to her hands then found her arms were cold as well.
“Honey, you’re freezing,” he murmured as he began rubbing her arms. That was when he noticed she didn’t make any kind of move to stop him. Looking closer he took note her eyes were blank.
He grabbed her and stood her up. Dragging her over to the bed he stripped off her shirt, jeans and shoes then got her under the covers. Taking off his own clothes, he pulled her into his arms and began whispering in her ear, “Come on baby girl, don’t give up yet. Don’t you dare give up, not now, not ever. Do you hear me? I know things seem bad right now, but you can weather this storm. We need you to work with us. We need to know what you know about your dad.”
She lifted her head to stare at him. “But that’s just it, he wasn’t my dad. My whole life has been a lie. How do I get over that?” she whispered.
Barron gazed at the hopelessness in her eyes. “Malyshka, Gene brought your mother over here with him and helped her hide so she could give birth to you. Didn’t he?” When he saw she was at least listening to his words he went on, “If she would have stayed in Russia, her family would have had her killed if she refused to go along with what they wanted. Then when you were born, she did the only thing she could do to keep you safe, she left you with Gene to raise. He loved you so much that he raised you. He could have said no. Then Vitya finally caught up with him and killed him. Sometimes the past comes back like that. I am sure he knew that it would happen someday.”
“Dad told me to run and not look back but I—I couldn’t just leave him.” She sobbed. “He was the only parent I knew, now I find out he wasn’t even that. How do I understand what he did?”
“Did he abuse you? Neglect you in any way?” Barron stared at her.
“No, he would never do that.” She protested harshly.
“Then you know in your heart he loved you as his own child, he loved you and took care of you to the best of his ability.”
She closed her eyes and nodded. “But he lied to me. About who I was all this time.”
“Net dorogusha, he protected you with his life,” Barron insisted. “He built that house to keep you hidden in case those secrets ever came to light. He changed his name so you would have a chance to grow up in a safe atmosphere. He told you to run and took a bullet to give you time to get away. He loved you from the day you were born and I’ll bet he was in contact with your real mom your whole life.”
“Why couldn’t he tell me all of this?” Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Maybe because he thought if you knew, you would seek her out, putting both your lives in real danger.” Barron shrugged. “You may never know the real reason, but I feel that everything he did was to protect you...always.”
Grace nodded. “My mom may be out there somewhere? Do you really think so?”
“If she is, she’s in hiding and her life as well as yours could be in more danger now than ever before. If Vitya saw us return this morning, he might be coming back to try and take us all out. He can’t leave any of us alive to tell anyone in authority what happened. Men like him don’t like to leave witnesses alive.” He hesitated then told her the truth, “He may even keep you alive long enough to find out what you know. If you can’t tell him what he wants to know, he will put a bullet in you. We just have to figure out what he wants.”
Grace shuddered then closed her eyes. “I don’t want any blood spilled for me. Not for me, I am no one important.”
Barron shook his head. “You are malen’kiy. Besides, I just found you and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you go know." he shook his head." but it seems by his actions that you’re also important to him. He wants something from you. That alone could give us an advantage.
Looking stunned at his words, Grace’s hands cupped the sides of his face. “I won’t let you or your men die in my place. I just can’t do that.”
Barron smiled. “You forget little one, we know this man, we know exactly what he will do next. Every damned man jack of us has suffered under his rules. We aren’t going to be the ones who die. We also got the Bratva behind us. Plus, we have the Nomads and that team.” Barron shook his head, they will hunt Vitya down, have no doubt about that. So it’s only a matter of time before Vitya is caught.” He paused then added, “Will that upset you? Is it going to bother you? He is your uncle after all.”
Grace growled. “He is no uncle of mine. He may be my mother’s brother but he’s not my anything. If anyone has to bleed, make it him. But don’t kill him here, take him back to Russia and hold him accountable for the crimes he committed there. Stain the ground with his blood there. He deserves that much and so do his victims. They deserve to get back their pride for his abuse.”
Barron chuckled. “You my dear are more than a little bloodthirsty aren’t you?” Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he told her, “Back in Russia, you have the government and then you have the Bratva. Today’s Bratva is very different from the Bratva of old. They almost have more power than the government has, but they don’t rule by fear, they rule with compassion and give the people hope. Things have changed so much since Russia lost its superpower status. The Bratva keeps the peace. When they run into a problem, they call in a special team of men. They are specialists that travel anywhere the Bratva needs them to go. Most people fear them but they only go after the bad guys.” He shrugged. “They are so elite no one really knows if they are real or not. But Yuri and Kosta claimed that they are and we can only hope they will do what this situation needs. They won’t stop until they find him and their search could get bloody. So prepare yourself.”
Grace shook her head, “No, I’m looking for justice not revenge. Justice for Gene and justice for my mother. She had to give up the most. She not only lost her man and her family, but her home and the child she gave birth to. Although, I doubt she missed out on missing her family. From what you all say, they weren’t much to brag about.” Sh
e let out a little snort giggle.
Both Grace and Barron laughed at her snorting.
He shook his head. “No you’re right, her family was garbage, and I don’t think she would miss them much.”
“Ok Mr. Biker man, what happens now?” she asked in a firmer tone than when this conversation started.
Barron paused to note her hopelessness and sadness seemed to be gone. He sighed. “So what happens now, is we go through the information your dad left and we try to find your mother, all the while staying off Vitya’s grid. At least until we want him to find us. Meanwhile, we hunt that little bastard down and take his contacts out here. We leave him nowhere to go but to us, then we take him down.”
Grace frowned. “What do you mean his contacts here?”
“He has to have people working for him here. We need to find them, then and only then will we find him.”
“I don’t understand something, why would he have people working for him here?”
“From what we’ve been able to find out, he is part of a ring of human trafficking. He kidnaps women and children and sells them all over the world. Most of them don’t make it and what the monsters that buy them do to them is horrible. The book your dad left told us that much. He gave a heads up on that. He was tracking the ring down on his own. He was worried that someone was following him and he was worried about leading them to you.”
Grace laid her head on his chest and sobbed. When she was able to stop she admitted, “I know he was worried about something in the last couple of weeks. He was adamant that I not leave the house. The other day was the first day in two weeks he let me come to the garage.”
“What happened at your house today?” he asked her. “How did Niko get inside if the house was hidden?”
Grace shuddered as she remembered the bloody knife fight between Sasha and Niko. “He must have followed us. He must have seen the way I opened the front door and followed us inside? If he had eyes on us then he would have known where the front door was and how to open it.”
